Thread: If you were going to make a production razor...

Nothing 'we' did makes any difference. 'We' as in people actually caring enough about shaving to belong to a wet shaving forum.
Whatever happens in the shaving market outside the small quality outfits and the people who buy their products, is determined by the millions who watch commercials and buy Gillette or Wilkinson. They determine what happens to mass market production. It doesn't matter what we think of GD, sight unseen razors, etc (shite, I agree).
Think of it like this: people already abandon rational though when it comes to decisions that greatly influence their lives, such as 'whom do we vote for?'. Influencing their non essential decisions by rational though will fare no better.

Btw is Germany really stepping away from the old titles? It wasn't really that long ago (15 years or so) when I had contacts in German industry (automation and engineering, PLC programming and production line systems) and at the time everyone was careful to address the Germans by their title because they were really picky about it and if you wanted to get anywhere, you'd better call the meister 'Herr Meister' and various other people by other designations (forgot the details) because otherwise the conversation just ended.

I think we could help some as a community. When people ask how to get started with straights tell them to buy an Aust, Wacker, Revisor, Dovo or Thiers from a reputable dealer that sells them shave ready. This supports those craft industries that are trying to keep the old traditions alive and the retailers that sell and support them. I see a lot of people getting referred to buying vintage, eBay or semi-custom makers. It's not a knock on them. I just feel for people starting out that category should be their second purchase after they have a few months of shaves with a properly honed traditionally made new razor.

It's a win win. I think it would generate more return customers, keep those makers and retailers in business, create customers for vintage, restored and custom straights, and people will be more likely to stay with the method.

Originally Posted by CrownCork

When people ask how to get started with straights tell them to buy an Aust, Wacker, Revisor, Dovo or Thiers from a reputable dealer that sells them shave ready.

Only, that does not make any sense. Every Aust, and every Revisor I ever got were shave ready. Wacker? Hit and miss. Dovo? The cheap ones are machine made, and the expensive ones are an eyesore. Again, not very well honed, like the bad Wacker razors. Thiers? No, thanks.

Thing is, it is perfectly viable to sell well honed razors. Aust and Revisor are doing it. If a vendor wants to sell brands whose quality is hit and miss (did I mention modern Böker, Henckels or Puma «razors» already), that is their prerogative. Outstanding vendors phased out those brands years ago.

Originally Posted by RobinK

Only, that does not make any sense. Every Aust, and every Revisor I ever got were shave ready. Wacker? Hit and miss. Dovo? The cheap ones are machine made, and the expensive ones are an eyesore. Again, not very well honed, like the bad Wacker razors. Thiers? No, thanks.

Thing is, it is perfectly viable to sell well honed razors. Aust and Revisor are doing it. If a vendor wants to sell brands whose quality is hit and miss (did I mention modern Böker, Henckels or Puma «razors» already), that is their prerogative. Outstanding vendors phased out those brands years ago.

Point taken. There are some vendors that hone and do quality QC checks on Wacker, Dovo and TI's to make sure they are shave ready and don't contain any flaws that would make them not maintainable. I think that is why I included reputable in the vendor description.

My main point was to support the smaller craft businesses and quality retailers, to increase retention in the hobby and the craft itself. Save the vintage holy grail eBay or restored hunt for when they have a little more experience using and maintaining the equipment. That way they have a better grasp on what they are buying and what will need to do when they eventually hit the "Buy it Now" button. Even if they get a dud they will stay with the hobby because they have a razor that they can shave well with and maintain and chalk it up to lesson learned experience gained.

PS I agree with you on Wacker...but man when it is a hit

Wish in one hand and shite in the other and what to you get?

Originally Posted by 32t

Wish in one hand and shite in the other and what to you get?

Nothing. I tend not to shite in my hands

I read the whole topic through a translator. Very useful and informative topic.

Who is your target customer? Is it someone who is willing to put up with the "inconvenience" of having a carbon steel razor, particularly in a wet environment? If not, then I would consider using the recently released .196 AEB-L for a 5/8 razor. As for grinding, how about finding a vendor with something like a Siepmann or Berger CNC hollow grinding setup?

Originally Posted by JDM61

Who is your target customer? Is it someone who is willing to put up with the "inconvenience" of having a carbon steel razor, particularly in a wet environment? If not, then I would consider using the recently released .196 AEB-L for a 5/8 razor. As for grinding, how about finding a vendor with something like a Siepmann or Berger CNC hollow grinding setup?

I think your costs to mass produce a significant number of razors on something like that would put you out of the $100 market. Especially as a start-up. The machine time and tool costs would be extensive. Also from the specs could they grind as hollow as current razors are made? Then you would still have finishing, polishing, etching, honing, scale procurement, pinning, packaging and shipping. Most being manual labor.

Originally Posted by JDM61

Who is your target customer? Is it someone who is willing to put up with the "inconvenience" of having a carbon steel razor, particularly in a wet environment? If not, then I would consider using the recently released .196 AEB-L for a 5/8 razor. As for grinding, how about finding a vendor with something like a Siepmann or Berger CNC hollow grinding setup?

I think the hollow grinding machines would be a possibility, especially if you were contracting out as much of the process as possible. You would need quite a large order to get the costs down.